Over the past six years, homebuilding giant Lennar Corp. has been embroiled in high-profile legal cases. So managing outside counsel is one of the priorities of Lennar’s 12-attorney law department.

After years of legal wrangling, a Miami-Dade Circuit Court jury late last year awarded Lennar $1 billion in damages against California developer Nicolas Marsch III and his Briarwood Capital LLC for defamation and conspiracy to extort money from Lennar.